The West Australian state government has allocated land to four organisations as it progresses development of the Pilbara Hydrogen Hub. Fortescue Future Industries, Yara, Hexagon and Perdaman have all been selected to participate, adding to the list of ammonia projects already underway in the region.
Norwegian technology developer Pherousa announced that it has developed & validated an ammonia cracking-based propulsion system, with plans to order six Ultramax vessels fitted with the technology. Grieg Maritime has ordered up to four ammonia-ready bulk carriers from China State Shipbuilding Corporation for delivery in 2026. And a new container ship design has been unveiled by the Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping.
The pair will develop an 850,000 tonnes per year renewable ammonia production facility in Queensland, Australia. The ammonia will be used domestically by IPL, exported to Singapore for use in Keppel’s under-development power generation projects, or sold to customers in Asia for energy needs. The source of the renewable hydrogen feedstock will be the nearby Central Queensland hydrogen mega-project. In other news, H2U will collaborate with the local first nations community on its own mega-project in the area: H2-Hub™ Gladstone.
The Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller Center for Zero Carbon Shipping (MMCZCS), RMI, Danish Shipping, and Maersk Oil Trading have released two publications outlining their new Maritime Book & Claim system, which will undergo a pilot later this year. Under the system, ships will be able to ‘book’ emissions associated with individual voyages, which consumers can then ‘claim’. The system seeks to accelerate decarbonisation by empowering green shipping services to find customers offering green premiums, regardless of geographical constraints.
The Ammogen consortium has begun construction on a commercial scale ammonia cracker in the Tyseley Energy Park, aiming to produce 200kg of hydrogen per day for the mobility market. The demonstrator is the latest in a series of announced cracking projects in the UK, demonstrating improved technology, public and private partnerships, plus the utilisation of existing port facilities and resource hubs.
ABS has used computational fluid dynamics to model ammonia dispersion patterns in a ship’s engine room, with the aim of producing a fast, real-time response system for ammonia leaks. In Japan, a fuel supply system for large-scale, low-speed, two-stroke marine engines is undergoing final verification testing. Mitsubishi Shipbuilding aims to become a key technology provider of such systems, and in the ammonia maritime fuel space.
As part of our Maritime Ammonia Insights webinar series, we explored the safety learnings gained so far during the development of maritime ammonia fueled engines, as well as existing best practices for safe ammonia handling. John Mott (ASTI), Kaj Portin and Laura Sariola (both Wärtsilä) were joined in conversation by Conor Furstenberg Stott.
The million-tonne-per-year, $8.4 billion renewable hydrogen & ammonia production facility will be built near Al Muwaileh, Saudi Arabia. Project partner Air Products will act as EPC contractor, and has also secured exclusive ammonia offtake rights from NEOM for thirty years.
Germany-based DAI Infrastruktur will develop Project Ra - 1.6 million tonnes per year of ammonia to be produced near Port Said on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast. DAI has already secured two offtake deals for the project, totalling one million tonnes of ammonia per year from 2028.
As Europe is expected to import a significant part of its hydrogen needs, ammonia cracking will play a key role. New results from a pre-feasibility study shed light on important considerations for efficient, safe deployment of industrial scale cracking at Rotterdam. Modernisation of the Netherland’s official ammonia storage and loading guideline also shows that fit-for-purpose regulation will be important to meet the demands of a fast-growing ammonia industry.